


A Leave of Absence

by Souja



Series: They were kids that I once knew [1]
Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Friendship, Gen, General, Writing practice, and 'but what if they don't?', aw dang son we got named characters up in here, bc ive apparently only ever finished one multichapter story, ft canon characters with oc backgrounds, i keep waffling like 'well maybe they cover it up', i like short chapters and i can not lie, i wanna call it the tori-go so bad, multi-chapter, posting now bc i keep waffling on it and I can always change it later, propersummaries2k18, samezu ayame is a good kid who doesn't know what's going on, so as compromise we smack em together, so thisll be a thing, unless tanabe-san springs a bunch of bgs on us, we'll see how this goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 23:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Souja/pseuds/Souja
Summary: One missing classmate was unfortunate. Two was odd. Four...four was cause for concern.A hypothetical look at the state of Tenkuudai Middle School after the departure from Tokyo.





	A Leave of Absence

**.Prologue.**

\--

_a little bit of concern to start the day off right_

\--

Being at Tenkuudai Middle School sucks.

Not in the sense of a terrible experience (though,  _highly_ debatable) and not in the sense of the ever-meh academics. It was more in the sense that in little over a year it’d been struck by waves of unfortunate circumstances that built into a tsunami named _Misfortune_. Doubly so, because before the whole birdmen thing Tenkuudai used to pride itself on its remarkably average… everything. A handful of secrets hid under its aging floorboards, but every respectable school had a demon or two to its name.

At least until the disastrous turn of 2012, where incidents jumped from _zero_ to _ten_ and the school floundered to make sense of it with a collective _What. In. The. World._  The Anti-Disaster assemblies that followed tried for soothing but were oftentimes anything but. Only so much could be done when the topics of the day ranged from, _‘How Not to Get Eaten By Tigers'_ to, _‘Why Standing On Chairs is a Stupid Idea When You’re trying not to Die’._   

In fact, this was the third such assembly of the month and by all means the students should have been rioting. They were boring, time-heavy endeavours. They'd rise, file out of their classes, and --assuming the principal managed to refrain from rambling long enough to get through all twelve points of the days lecture-- be back shortly before the last bell rang. It was a hassle more than anything, an afternoon of flustered staff giving information to students that didn’t need it. Didn’t _want_ it.

There should have been crude jokes, laughter! Plans to _skip_ the damn things altogether. What was one more crummy meeting when they never said anything _important?_

Well.

That didn’t happen.

Maybe it was the watchful eyes of the teachers herding them to the Class 3-B room, the tired glares that fixed every unruly comment and out-of-time step. Or, or maybe it was the way there were no answers for those who asked, _"Hey, what's going on?"_ despite the frowns that had grown so severe they seemed permanent. Because each assembly held bad news, it seemed, and the prospect of it being any _worse_... was unsettling to say the least.

Classes 3-A through D crammed into one room like tiny school-dressed tuna, so tightly packed some students occupied tabletops instead of standing.

There should have been chatter, excited prattle, but silence stole the place of conversation and twisted their guts till their words coagulated and fell in the dense air. Tension sewed every lip shut and drew every eye forward, where strangers took the place of their morning announcements. Miyamoto-sensei trembled beside a stone-faced Principal Sugimiya.

If his silence failed to say, " _something is wrong, please behave,”_ the quirk of his brow and the tight clench of his fists should have. And if somehow they’d ghosted through in ignorance, then the guests, with their jet-black uniforms and somber faces, would have to suffice.

Coughs stalled to terrible knots in the backs of throats. For once, the students listened.   

“So we ask you all to bear with us,” the speaker continued. Her accent was heavy, gravel drowning her words. “This last year has been stressful, we know, but understand that your teachers are doing _everything_ to keep you safe.” A pause that lasted just a bit too long as sharp eyes roamed the fidgeting bodies. Miyamoto flinched, stilled, and looked away. “But that means you need to do your part too.”

That. That was probably meant to be comforting. A call to action, a calming of nerves. And any other time it might have been funny to see three overly formal people stand before them and give instructions on how to walk home. What were they, kindergarteners?

But again the class was silent, attentive or some anxious cousin of it that permeated the room and rendered them speechless. Even Hasegawa. Yes, _that_ Hasegawa.  

Maybe it was the way they stood with their legs planted. The identical four-winged badges glistened on their shirts.  

“We look forward to working with you.”

And on that cue, two spectators turned to the chalkboard. In neat strokes they wrote their names.   

“And if you hear _anything_ about the birdmen, please let us know.”

Fear thrummed where confusion had been as _that_ incident from Channel 6 came up once more. The case of the disappearing children, a modern mystery recreated in their little part of Tokyo. One missing classmate was unfortunate. Two was odd. Four...four was cause for concern.

“That will be all,” the woman said, her pin dancing in the lowlight. “Enjoy your class.”

Tenkuudai Middle School swallowed a collective breath and hoped that things would pass soon.

 

...

**Author's Note:**

> Let's see how this goes!


End file.
